Ben Cherington preps for No. 7 pick

Tom LaymanThursday, June 06, 2013

The cram session for Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington and his draft brain trust is almost over. The long days and even later nights of being locked in a room with piles of papers and videos scouring every inch, every nook and cranny, will come to a head with Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft tonight.

The conditions portrayed might not exactly be the same as the ones at the Fenway Park offices, but the opportunity to potentially grab an impact player with the No. 7 pick — the highest pick for the organization since the Sox selected outfielder Trot Nixon seventh overall in 1993 — has consumed the minds in baseball operations for several months.

“It’s an opportunity to choose from a different pool than we normally would,” Cherington said before his team took on the Texas Rangers last night at Fenway Park. “We’ve got to take advantage of that opportunity.”

The Sox have been a fixture in the late stages of the first round for the better part of a decade and have only had one pick higher than No. 20 overall in the last five years, when they took University of Connecticut pitcher Matt Barnes with the 19th selection in 2011. Choosing between the best player and a position of need is a question for any front office during the draft process, but Cherington and his staff seem to be sold on one approach: Draft the best player available and nothing else.

“We are going to take the player that we think impacts the organization the most,” Cherington said. “Organizational needs, player’s position or anything like that won’t come into play. We are looking for the best.”

The Red Sox also have picks in the second round (No. 45 overall), third round, fourth round and rounds 11-40.

“Everyone always wants us to be focused on No. 7 and we do spend a lot of time on No. 7, but we have to get the other picks right, too,” Red Sox director of amateur scouting Amiel Sawdaye said. “We’ve spent a lot of days and a lot of hours on (No.) 7, but we’ve spent a lot of time on 45 and 81 (third round). We take players that we like and that’s the way we like to do it.”

In the remaining time before the draft begins, there is still work to be done as Cherington and the rest of the baseball ops personnel sift through all of the information that has been gathered along the way to making this year’s picks.

“We have to line it all up and look at every aspect of each player’s strengths and weaknesses, whether it be a pitcher or position player, high school or college,” Cherington said. “You weigh the upside and the risk.”